Image: Stevens, Rhiannon. ‘On the hunt’ ABC News Online, 2 August 2024 URL: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-02/deer-hunters-game-meat/103974062. Accessed 27 September 2024.
Please note – this information may change as more is understood about this disease
The Chronic Wasting Disease Spillover Preparedness and Response Report was released this week. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease caused by prions and affects cervids (hoofed ruminants such as elk and deer). Related prion diseases you may be familiar with are Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, scrapie in sheep and goats, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in cattle which may be transmitted to humans.
Locations CWD identified – USA (35 states), Canada, Finland, Norway, South Korea, Sweden
Portal of entry – Ingestion of contaminated food, water or soil and mucosal contact
Transmission – Direct (animal to animal contact via saliva, nose to nose interactions or contaminated bodily fluids)
- Indirect – Environmental contamination through ingestion of prion contaminated soil, water or plants (period of infectiousness in the environment is prolonged (at least 15 years)
- Exposure to contaminated surfaces such as feeding stations or mineral licks
- Vertical transmission from infected mothers to newborns may also occur
- Other types of transmission ?????
Portal of exit Prions are found in body fluids (saliva,semen, urine, faeces, blood, antler velvet, cerebro-spinal fluid (? vomitus)
Susceptible hosts – Cervids (deer, elk, moose)
- No evidence suggests human or livestock are susceptible – CAUTION is advised
Prevention
- WIldlife regulatory measures including feeding bans and carcass transport restrictions may be implemented by individual wildlife agencies.
- No vaccine is available
Zoonotic Risk – Unknown. Humans may expose themselves with potential ingestion of CWD-infected animals
References
Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), University of Minnesota.
Chronic Wasting Disease Spillover Preparedness and Response: Charting an Uncertain Future. 2025 Jan
8. Available at: cidrap.umn.edu/chronic-wasting-disease/chronic-wasting-disease-spillover-preparedness-
and-response-charting
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). About Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). URL: https://www.cdc.gov/chronic-wasting/about/index.html Accessed: 24 january 2025
Vuong TT, Cazzaniga FA, Tran L, Våge J, Di Bari M, Pirisinu L, et al. Prions in muscles of cervids with chronic wasting disease, Norway. Emerg Infect Dis. 2025 Feb [date cited]. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3102.240903